


Mother Night

by Mayaiai



Category: Dragon Age - All Media Types, Dragon Age: Origins
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Vigilante AU, superhero au
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-03-13
Updated: 2017-03-16
Packaged: 2018-10-03 23:55:07
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,932
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10261940
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Mayaiai/pseuds/Mayaiai
Summary: Denerim City was not a safe place at night. Gangs fought in the streets, not caring who got hurt in the crossfire. Corrupt city officials were bleeding the city dry instead of fixing the problems, and the city was falling further into the grasp of the underworld.As she stood on the edge of the building, and looked down at the blinking lights - she had to wonder. Would it be worth it? To save the city that had done nothing for her? It was be so satisfying to let the city burn, a small voice said in the back of her mind. For it to burn, as payment for all the sins it has done.She shook her head - chasing away the thought. Denerim is still her home, and maybe - if she could save it, she could make it better, a safe place.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Hiya and welcome to my Modern Vigilante AU, which is heavily inspired by DC's TV shows, and a splash of Marvel. I hope you enjoy <3

 

_“Evie Cousland, Billionaire daughter returns after five years lost at sea. She has confirmed that her parents, Eleanor and Bryce Cousland both perished aboard the Highever, when it sunk in the Ameranthine Ocean.”_

“Can you turn that down?” Eloren asked, frowning as she looked at the black haired waitress. With a small smile, the girl turned the radio down. “Do you want a refill?” the waitress asked.

Eloren looked at her empty cup, and nodded her head, brushing her blonde hair behind the tips of her pointed ears. The waitress picked up a jug and carried it over to the young elf’s table, pouring the dark coffee into her cup.

Glancing up, Eloren read the girls name tag. “Thank you Sarah.” Eloren said, picking the cup up and taking a sip, before returning her gaze to her papers.

“What are you working on?” Sarah asked, tilting her head.

“Project for college.” Eloren groaned, and ran her hand down one side of her face, and barely even noticed the slight raised markings from her Vallaslin. “I swear, if I’m forced to take the Chantry History class next semester, I’m gonna - be very sad about it. I don't suppose _you_ know about ancient Chantry Artifact and _why they’re important to modern day society.”_

Sarah gave her a pitying wince. “Sadly, no. I only know that they’re displaying a shard from the Vase that supposedly held the Sacred Ashes of Andraste at the Denerim National Museum tonight.” she said, shaking her head.

Eloren frowned. “Thank you anyway.” with a smile, the waitress headed off to check the only other customer in the café. Maybe if she went to go see that display at the museum she might get inspiration.

Or just reword what the speech about the shard will say and make it general enough to apply to all artifacts. Yeah, that’ll havr to do.

Because, Eloren Mahariel, a Dalish student at the Denerim City College, did not give one iota about Chantry History.

 

* * *

 

 

She hadn't been expecting the museum to be so full. She didn't like being crowded in with so many other, mostly human, people. She was highly aware of the strange, and some hostile, looks she had received and she’s barely been here for ten minutes.

But she wasn't planning on leaving just for a few glares. Nope. She was gonna get what she needed, do this stupid assignment and next time something like this happened, just burn it.

“This ancient shard - ” oh good, the speech was starting. Finally. As the speaker talked about the importance of the jar, Eloren jotted down notes in her book.

A cold drink splashed over her shirt as some big human practically crashed into her.

“Hey watch it!” the human snapped at her, but barely managed to hide the smug grin on his face.

“Of course,” Eloren said calmly, snapping her notebook shut, and _calmly_ placing it in her bag. “I mean, it must have been my fault for standing _perfectly still._ Everyone knows that the only way a human can hit a target is if its still, and well, even then they gotta count on luck.” She arched an eyebrow at the human.

“What - hey! Knife eared -”

“I believe that's _enough._ ”

Eloren and the man turned their heads to see a human woman with short red hair walk over to them. The woman stood pushed herself in front of the man.

“I saw you giggling with your friends about humiliating the dalish woman, so you can take her response with whatever dignity you own.” the woman wore a long sleeved jacket, and gloves, with long pants and boots. “Now I think you owe her an apology."

The man just scoffed and walked away. The woman turned to look at Eloren. “I’m sorry about that. I’m Evie. You are -?”

“Someone who had that handled.” Eloren said, her arms crossed over her chest. Creators, the airconditioning was making her wet shit cold.

Evie nodded her head. “I won't bother you again, but ah, here.” she pulled her jacket off, revealed a long sleeved shirt underneath and the gloves went right under the sleeves. “My address is on the tag if you want to return it. It’s getting a bit cold outside and I’d hate it if you got sick.”

Hesitantly, Eloren took the coat.“Thank you?” she said as she slid its on over her shirt.

Evie smiled before vanishing into the crowd. Well, that was -

People started clapping their hands, and wow the speech was over. Hopefully she had gotren enough to work out what to do with her stupid assignment.

The lights went out.

It took a few seconds for Eloren’s eyes to adjust to the darkness, but when they did, she was glad that she could actually see what was going on, because so many people were starting to panick. She darted out of the way of several humans, trying to work out what was going on.

There was movement up on the stage. Eloren blinked again as she saw a person wearing a hooded robe knock the speech giver over the back of the head. As he crumpled to the ground, the figure grabbed the shard and ran at the wall as the alarm blared. Once at the wall the figure jumped at it, and launched back to grab a pole coming out of the wall. The figure pulled themselves up and dove out the open window.

The lights turned back on.

What the hell was that?!

 

* * *

 

 

“You’re late.”

At the comment from her roommate, Eloren just flopped down onto her bed. “I went to the stupid museum, for this stupid assignment, and the stupid artifact got stolen, so i had to answer a bunch of stupid questions from the police.”

Morrigan tsked. “Should have left before the police arrived.”

“Yeah. Like that would’ve made the Dalish elf at a stupid chantry thing less suspicious in the eyes of humans.” Eloren said, pushing herself up to look at Morrigan. Morrigan offered her what one would assume to be an attempt at a consoling gaze.

“What did you tell the police?”

“That I saw nothing.” Eloren said. “It was too dark.”

“Elves can see in the dark.”

“Only if there is low light, and hey, it’s not like they would've believed what I saw anyway.”

Morrigan was quiet for a moment as she closed the lid of her laptop. “And what did you see?”

“Some hooded figure. But the way they climbed up to the window? They had training. Like, proper decent training.” Eloren let herself lay flat on her bed again. “Ughhhh. Next time I just won't do it. I’ll take the bad grade. Not worth it.”

Morrigan laid down on the bed next to her. “Where’d you get the jacket from?”

In the the hassle, Eloren had actually forgotten about it. And right, she had to return it. Could she just _post_ it?

“A woman. Evie, she said he name was. Some jerk spilled soft drink, I think, on me.”

“Evie - Evie Cousland?”

“I uh, don't know?” Eloren blinked. “Isn't that the billionaire that was lost at sea or something?”

“You don't know this, yet I was the one raised in a swamp.” Morrigan sighed. “Yes. Her family, barring her brother, set off in their ship, _The Highever,_ but they never made it to the destination. A terrible storm. She was found on a deserted island.”

Huh. “Tough life. Anyway, I don't know if it was her. Probably wasn't. If I went through all that, I wouldn't be giving jackets to random strangers at a museum."

“Perhaps.” Was all Morrigan said on it.


	2. Chapter 2

Eloren wanted nothing more than to crawl into her bed and stay there all night, and quite possibly even into the next day, but, she still had that stupid assignment to write and it was due the next day. So while Morrigan climbed into bed, Eloren sat by the window with her laptop, making the the screen was dimmed enough that it wouldn’t bother the other woman too much.

‘The Importance of Chantry History.’ Eloren started to write, and then she just transcribed her notes onto the screen, and then started sorting through them to see what she could use for the best information. About half an hour into this infuriating task, her skype pinged.

Eloren clicked it open.

‘ _ You’re up late!! :O’ _

Eloren smiled at the message from Merrill. She missed her clanmates. She couldn’t wait for break when she could go visit them.

‘ _ Stupid assignment i have to finish. What’s your excuse?’ _

The was a groaning from the tree outside, and she glanced over her shoulder out the dark window. Thanks to the light of her laptop, she couldn’t actually see anything out there. When she looked back at her screen Merrill had replied.

‘ _ I’m sick. :( Slept for hours earlier now i’m not tired!’  _ then, ‘ _ what assignment?’ _

_ ‘Oh no! I hope you get better soon. Its for chantry history. It’s super boring. I even went to a stupid museum to see a chantry artifact just so i could get inspiration from the speech. Most boring event ever. The only exciting part was when the lights went out and the artifact got stolen.’ _

_ ‘Oh wow! Did you see who did it?’ _

_ ‘They were wearing a hood. Knocked the speaker out, and grabbed it and vaulted themselves against the wall and into a bar thingy and jumped out the open window! It was like, a huuugggeee height off the ground.’ _

_ ‘:O’  _ then a ‘ _ i gotta go sorry! The keeper is coming i was supposed to be asleep hours ago, according to her. But the sleep won’t come!’ _

Eloren smiled. ‘ _ Ok, bye! Say hi to everyone for me <3 <3’ _

Merrill sent a sticker before her status changed to offline. Eloren was about to close the program and resume with her project when a new chat bubble popped up. Eloren stared at it, and at the blank space where a name should be.

_ ‘Did you see anything _ ?’

Eloren didn’t reply.

‘ _ I know you are there. Did you see anything at the museum?’ _

Eloren glanced over at Morrigan, fast asleep.

‘ _ Who is this?’ _

_ ‘A concerned citizen. You told the police it was too dark for you to see. I know for a fact that it was not. There was enough light to reflect in your eyes to see. What did you see?’ _

What the everloving - who was this person? How did they know what she told the police?! She hesitated, her fingers hovering above the keyboard. She should just stick with the story that she told the police.

_ ‘NO. I saw nothing. What I told the police was the truth. Now! Who are you? How do you know what I told them?’ _

There was no response. Maybe whoever it was got what they wanted and had left the chat? What was even going on?

‘ _ That is a lie.’ _

She stared at the new message, and her eyes widened even further as a second message came in, this time an image. A screen capture of her conversation with Merrill, the part where she told Merrill what she had seen.

What the hell?

‘ _ If you already know what I saw from invading my private conversations then why the hell would you even bother asking me in the first place!!’ _

_ ‘To check if you would lie. To check if you are withholding anything else. Are you?’ _

_ ‘NO.’ _

_ ‘I don’t believe you.’ _

_ ‘I don’t care what you believe. You invaded my private conversations, you test me, and I have no clue who you are and I owe you NOTHING. This conversation is over, and you can lasa adahl su nar masa!’ _

_ ‘Unless you want me to tell the police that you lied, I would advise you listen to me. We need to meet.’ _

Eloren scowled at the screen. If the police thought she lied, then they would probably question her  _ more _ and, well, depending on what officers were there, they’d probably accuse her of being an accomplice.

Prejudice against Dalish was still alive and well.

‘ _ And if I could figure it out, the thief may as well. And they may not appreciate the thought of a witness. I advise that we meet, in person to try and figure all this out.’ _

Eloren shut her eyes and pinched the bridge of her nose. Was this person for  _ real? _ If they told the police, she could get kicked out of college with her scholarship withdrawn. And then, after threatening her, they tell her she might be in danger and wants to meet in person?

‘ _ Just give me a second.’  _ She typed and then sat her laptop on the small desk, making sure it was facing the wall, and she stood up and made her way over to the bed. She gently shook Morrigan’s shoulder.

The other woman awoke easily - that was something Eloren had learned about Morrigan, she slept lightly - and looked at her with a sleepy, yet annoyed gaze.

“I need your opinion on something. Important.” Eloren whispered.

Slowly, Morrigan got out of the bed and Eloren led her to the laptop. Morrigan blinked as she read through all the messages, and glanced at Eloren with a concerned expression. After a second, Morrigan started typing on the keyboard.

‘ _ When would you want us to meet?’ _

There was a moment between that message being sent, and the next one coming in.

‘ _ Tonight, as soon as you can get there. At the library. Come alone.’ _

Eloren glanced at Morrigan. “What do you think?” she asked, her voice hushed.

“I think you should go.” Morrigan said, slowly. “But only because of the blackmail. And not alone. I have an idea.”

Eloren nodded her head and quickly typed up her message, agreeing to meet there, then closed her laptop. SHe looked at Morrigan, and the other woman had her phone out. 

“Put your phone in your pocket, dialed to me and I will listen in on everything.” Morrigan told her. “And I will be nearby. If anything happens, I will be there.”

“Shouldn’t you call the police?” Eloren asked, although the idea of Morrigan hanging up the line made her feel… very bad. 

Morrigan nodded her head and she went to her bedside table. From the bottom draw she pulled out a second phone. Eloren blinked at it. “Why do you have a second phone?”

Morrigan just shrugged. “Why do you not?”

“I… Don't know?” Eloren blinked. But she shook her head, and decided upon changing the subject. “Alright. This is good. A good plan. I mean, as good of a plan for meeting with a strange blackmailer in the middle of the night could be.”   
  


**======**

  
  


The cold breeze made Eloren wrap the borrowed jacket around herself tighter as she walked through the empty street of Denerim. This was… an amazingly bad idea.

Even if this mysterious blackmailer didn't turn out to be crazy, then what were the odds that some of Denerims many gangs weren't lurking around ready to start a fight. She stuck her hand into her bag where she knew her phone was sitting, just many making sure it was still in there.

This was a bad idea. Had she said that - she’s pretty sure she said that, but maybe it hadn't actually been paid attention to yet.

She was especially sure when that it was a bad idea when a figure practically landed right in front of her, wearing a dark hood, and mask, with flowing robes and a sword - a  _ sword - _ in their hand.

“You saw who took the shard. Tell me who it was!” their voice reverberated.

Holy shit. “I don't know!” she yelped, jumping backward and her hand tightened around something in her bag. “I don't know what you want!”

“I want to see what you saw.” the figure lunged towards her, and in a flash Eloren pulled the knife out of her bag and  _ slashed _ at the hooded figure, slicing their face below the hood, and then in the spare second, Eloren started running.

It was unfortunate to say, she wasn't fast enough.

 

\---

 

“Eloren!  _ Eloren!  _ By the stars - ” Morrigan snapped, as she looked at her phone. She had heard Eloren shouting, and the other person, and she had heard the running and then the scream. After that-  the call ended. And every time Morrigan tried to ring back, the phone went straight to voicemail.

This was not good.

She hurried her pace up, and she reached the library not long after that. She pushed the doors open and looked around in the dim light.

“I know you are here.” Morrigan said, eyes scanning until - a figure stepped out of the shadows. Morrigan narrowed her eyes. “What have you gotten yourself into?”

“I am simply helping a friend.” came the response. “The question is, what are you doing here?”

“The same. You threatened my roommate, and she was attacked on her way here and I can't get into contact with her. Your friend, I assume?”

To her credit, the other woman looked genuinely surprised. “No! We didn't touch her. What happened?”

Morrigan raised her phone up, and pressed it. A reply of the entire occurrence played out for them to hear. By the end of it, the other wlman was shaking her head.

Morrigan pointed an accusatory finger at her. “She is just an innocent girl who had the unfortunate luck of being somewhere at the wrong time. She has no idea about all of this. Fix this, Nightingale.” and Morrigan Turned and stormed out of the library, leaving the other occupant alone.


End file.
